


About Time

by fluentisona



Category: My Mad Fat Diary
Genre: F/M, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-30
Updated: 2014-03-30
Packaged: 2018-01-17 12:23:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,653
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1387471
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fluentisona/pseuds/fluentisona
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A study of Chloe and Archie and their friendship.</p>
            </blockquote>





	About Time

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: I haven't written fanfic in forever, but I love love love Archie and Chloe and wanted to explore them a little bit. Hope you enjoy :)

_After._

After Rae leads Finn out of the pub with a look of determination screwed on her face, and after Chop makes some half-cocked excuse as to why he and Izzy have to leave, Archie and Chloe are left alone at the table. Around them, the other regulars ebb and flow, and faces Archie has long associated with Friday Night at the Pub blur together. Archie’s on his sixth beer and Chloe’s on her third vodka tonic when he returns from the bar with their next round. Chloe smiles her thanks and knocks back half the glass in a single swallow. He thinks he should tell her to slow down, especially because he has no idea when she last ate, but she’s smiling for the first time in days, and he doesn’t have it in him to tell her to stop.

“All right, Chloe?” he asks, as she puts the glass back on the table.

She looks at him and giggles, giggles the way she did the night they first met, when Chop introduced her as, “this fit bird who came down to the shop last week.” Archie smiles ruefully back. “All right, Archie. Jus’ a long week, weren’t it?”

“Feels like the longest week of my whole life,” Archie agrees. He pulls a cigarette out of the carton in his pocket and then offers the box to her. Chloe shakes her head. He has a feeling she’s got no interest in being sober tonight. “Do you wanna talk about it?”

She shrugs, the noncommittal shrug she reserves for things that are monumental but that she can’t talk about right now. “You remind me of Atlas when you do that, you know? Atlas and Ayn Rand."

Chloe looks at him blankly, probably trying to process what he’s just said through her alcoholic haze. “Who the fuck are ya talking ‘bout, Archie?”

“Atlas,” Archie repeated, “He was a titan in Greek mythology. He held the whole world on his shoulders. Ayn Rand wrote a book called Atlas Shrugged back in the fifties that was all about the importance of capitalism and why the Soviet Union sucks. She said if she ever got the chance to meet Atlas, carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders, she would tell him to shrug. When you shrug, you look like you’re straining beneath the weight of the world.”

He’s probably lost her, because she’s looking at him like he’s half out of his mind. But then she smiles real slow-like, and he’s got a feeling this is one of those smiles she reserves just for the Gang—one of those smiles where you can see the cracks just beneath the surface, if you’re looking hard enough.

“You’re definitely a bit off, Archie,” she says, after a moment, “but you’re pretty perfect, as well.” Then she collapses into a second fit of giggles, and Archie decides it’s time to take her home.

 

_Before._

Before he takes her to her house, Archie brings them to his and takes her upstairs to sober up. His parents are still being weird about him being gay, and bringing Chloe round at half three in the morning is bound to cause even more confusion, but Archie knows what Chloe’s parents are like and he’s not about to give them any more of a reason to make Chloe feel like shit. He makes her coffee and offers her a shower, both of which she accepts passively. “I don’ need a shower, Archie,” she mumbles, as he pushes her into the bathroom. Never mind the fact that she smells like the inside of a distillery. She comes into his room about ten minutes later, looking a little bit more sober.

“I don’t have any clothes now,” she says, accepting the coffee mug with her free hand while the other holds up her towel. Archie nods towards large t-shirt and an odd looking pair of boxers on his bed.

“It’s the best I can do,” he says, as she eyes the pile. The t-shirt is black with KISS printed across the chest in bold, white letters. It used to be his dad’s, but Archie appropriated it for painting the windows last summer and has yet to give it back. The boxers are also black. They’re about three years old, so he’s assuming they’ll fit Chloe. Though looking at her collarbone he has a feeling she hasn’t eaten since before she ran away.

She smiles and hands him her coffee mug back. She pulls the t-shirt over her head, and drops the towel. If there were ever a litmus test for Archie’s sexuality, he’s pretty sure this would be it. He hands her the coffee back after she finishes pulling on the boxers. For a moment, they stand there, staring at each other. And then Chloe asks, “Do you think I’m a good person, Archie?” right before she starts crying.

Archie has never been good with crying girls. Even when his mom cries it makes him feel awkward. But Chloe’s sobbing outright and Rae’s probably getting sexed up, which means both she and Finn are out of commission. And most likely Izzy and Chop are doing the same thing. Which means there’s just good ol’ Uncle Archie to comfort their Chloe. He knows he can’t let them down.

“Chloe, I think you’re an amazing person,” he says, as he puts his arms around her and envelopes her in a hug, “I think you’re the best kind. It’s why you’re one of me best mates.”

“But I’m not funny, or smart, or sweet. I’m shit with advice and with talking. Nobody’s ever wanted me for anythin’ but my body.” Some of the words get swallowed by her attempts to stop crying, but Archie catches enough of what she’s saying to figure out the rest.

“I don’t really care about your body, Chloe,” he quips, pulling out of the hug to look her in the eye. “You’re right fit an’ all, but you’re not really my type.”

he laughs at that, not a drunken giggle, but a sound that sounds kind of broken and hopeful at the same time. “You don’t think I’m a bitch?” she asks, after a moment.

“Only sometimes,” he replies, smiling. She swats him half-heartedly and leans back into the hug. When she finally pulls back, he thinks some of the weight has fallen from her shoulders.

 

_During._

During the football match Finn begged him to come and watch, Archie is pointedly trying not to make eye-contact with anyone while also trying not to get pulled into Chloe and Rae’s conversation about who was the hottest player on the field. Rae, ever loyal, is firmly standing behind Finn on this, but Chloe has her eye on Ravi, who’s tripped over himself twice because he’s caught her watching him.

“What do you think, Archie?” Chloe asks, when Rae has yet again proven that Finn is better looking than Ravi. They both turn from in front of him to gage his response. Rae doesn’t look like she really cares one way or the other, but Chloe’s got that determined look on her face, and he has a feeling that he’ll be grading men one to ten by the end of the game.

“I think you’re both mental,” Archie quips.

Chloe shakes her head, “I’m serious, Archie. Who do you think is the fittest guy on the field right now?”

He feels like this means something. He feels like this is some kind of ritual which will cement not only his sexuality but Rae and Chloe’s acceptance of that sexuality as well. Like picking which guy he thinks is best looking somehow makes his abstract theory of being gay a flesh-and-bone reality. “I don’t know,” he tries, not sure he’s ready to take that plunge.

Rae goes to turn around, but Chloe puts her hand on Rae’s knee to stop her. “Archie, it ain’t that hard of a question.”

“All right.” He scans the field, but he already knows who he’s chosen. He’s had a crush on Tristan Hull since year ten, when Tristan moved here from Northampton. For his part, Tristan is probably the straightest man in the history of men. “Hull’s pretty good looking, I guess.” He tries to play it off, but Chloe’s smiling all the way to her eyes.

She looks pensive for a moment. “Yeah,” she says, like she’s passing judgment. “He’s fit. A bit too tall for me, but I guess he’d be the right size for you. Too bad he’s got a different girl every week.” And she flashes him one of her carefree grins before turning back to the game. Rae rolls her eyes before meeting his and they share a smile at the expense of Chloe’s off-hand remarks. Then she turns back to the match, her eyes following Finn’s ass up the field. Chloe, for her part, fixes her hair and rolls a tube of lip gloss over her lips—for the fifth time in less than an hour.

Archie leans back, glad to have the Gang back together again. After this, they’ll meet up with Izzy and Chop at the chippy and plan out the rest of Rae’s birthday celebration. Izzy will sit on Chop’s lap and Rae and Finn will pretend to pay attention while really having a secret conversation only the two of them will understand. Chloe will steal all of Archie’s chips and then complain that she’s eaten too much, and Rae will probably eat one of Finn’s and feel the exact same way. Izzy will giggle about something terrible Chop says, which will prompt him to say it out loud and cause them all to grown, and maybe that’ll be enough to make Chloe forget that Archie’s type is tall, blond, and athletic. Yeah, he’s definitely happy to have everyone back.

And yet, even though nothing’s changed, it all seems a bit different.


End file.
